Lesson Learned – Don't Tweak the VA's Nose!

Last Friday the VA's eBenefits site showed my disability claims had been resolved, and today I learned just how. The VA denied all fifteen claimed! Thus it seems the VA has firmed up their resistance to C-123 claims following the single claim permitted on 31 July 2013 when the Manchester VA Regional Office approved Paul Bailey's claim.

Very surprising was VA's failure to address each of the proofs I submitted as well as dismissing all my "lay" evidence. They just said "no."

I'm already 100% for other issues so the disappointment I feel is only in the painful realization that they meant it..."No C-123 claims will be permitted to be approved," as per VA's Post-Deployment Health

VA – Toxic C-123s as Agent Orange STORAGE Sites???

Agent Orange spray 1500 gallon
tanks inside UC-123K during Operation
Ranch Hand, Vietnam War

The VA web site  mentions storage sites all over the world as exposure sites for Agent Orange,

Wouldn't by definition the C-123 airplanes be storage sites? Those which were used for Operation Ranch Hand obviously "stored" 1500 gallons of Agent Orange for each mission!

storage [ˈstɔːrɪdʒ]

n

1. the act of storing or the state of being stored

2. space or area reserved for storing

3. (Business / Commerce) a charge made for storing

4. (Electronics & Computer Science / Computer Science) Computing

a.  the act or process of storing information in a computer memory or on a magnetic tape, disk, etc.

b.  (as modifier) a storage device storage capacity

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

VA: Doing it Right Big Time!

VA's Under Secretary for Benefits, retired Brigadier General Allison Hickey, announced some time ago a terrific, terrific, superb prioritization for veterans' claims, the last line of which satisfies me completely!

Finally, people leaving active duty can expect their VA claims to be awarded within two months of separation! It used to be years...literally. Years during which the VA refused medical care and every other type of benefit associated with "service connection."

Like other retirees, I am disappointed with the pace of my own VA claims, but I am perfectly willing to wait in line for a decision behind troops just coming off active duty. This arrangement, plus "presumptive eligibility" to allow VA to treat veterans until their claims work through the system, meets any concerns I have about VA refusing care to those veterans who need it!

Well done, VA!

As we focus on the oldest claims in our inventory, we will continue to prioritize claims for homeless Veterans and those with extreme financial hardship, the terminally ill, former Prisoners of War, Medal of Honor recipients, and Veterans filing Fully Developed Claims. Also, those who can no longer serve in the military because of combat wounds, or other non-combat injuries or illnesses, will continue to have their disability compensation processed through the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES), which is separate and distinct from the inventory of claims impacted by this initiative.  Wounded, ill and injured Service members on average receive their disability compensation within two months of leaving the military."

Working with your Veterans Service Organization Representative

Many vets have the misunderstanding that the various veterans service organizations (VSO) which represent veterans before the VA are responsible to the "grand design" of a claim for service connection.

While some VSOs may indeed offer that assistance, not all do, as in the case of Oregon's Department of Veterans Affairs. Oregon staffs their counties with state-affiliated, VA-authorized service officers as well as teams in Portland and the state capital, Salem. These officers offer a broad range of advice and interface with community-based services, but in Oregon veterans are responsible for submitting their own claims and creating, from their own resources, a basic strategy.

Oregon's role, as explained to me late last month by their Portland staff, is to focus on strategizing the vet's appeal only once the claim is denied. The service officers are notified by the VA shortly after the award or denial decision is made, and they then swing into action to help a veteran determine the next steps.

For many, the best approach will be a "notice of disagreement" (NOD) or alternately, a request for a local review by a senior VA rating officer not previously involved in the claim, a decision review officer (DRO.) That is the first important level of strategy where the service officer is able to help, because specifics of the claim can make one approach better than another.

After that, that, a vet's principal concern will be the amount of time required simply waiting in line, because appeals or DRO reviews can take years to be heard. When the big day finally rolls around, the service officer will present the VA with the facts of the case, the errors made by the VA, and the justification for an award in the vet's favor.

This entire process, and the inherent threat of years of delay working a denied claim, places a significant value in the veteran's initial claim being as complete, accurate, comprehensive, persuasive and error-free as possible. The veteran must hope for a positive response from the VA rather than a denied claim, wasting years and continuing to be denied VA medical care and other benefits. This means a vet needs to select a VSO carefully, especially if you feel unqualified to manage your own claim prior to the VA denial.

How to best approach this yourself with some hope of success if your VSO isn't set up to mange the initial claim for you? The very first step is to notify the VA in some form of your intent to file. All benefits are based on the date you first inform them of your wish to make a claim...and you can do this with a simple letter listing every possible boo-boo you have, or you can begin the process on-line at their web site.

Then, Attorney Katrina Eagle offers her "Dirty Dozen," thirteen tips of things NOT do do, and that's a great place to start– begin the process by not stepping on any minefields. Next, gather all your papers and have them scanned into digital form, because eventually you'll want to submit a "Fully Developed Claim" which is done on-line. Why? Because the VA processes those fastest, and because in many instances the VA even can back-date benefits a full year to motivate us to us that electronic process.

Next, file a a Freedom of Information Act request with the VA and with your military service to insure you've got all official documents on-hand. This may take months to get completed, so file early in your claims process. Then scan all those documents also, especially your DD214, any Line of Duty determinations, and medical records.

The VA will arrange a physical for you to address your claimed illnesses or injuries, but a faster route is the Disability Benefits Questionnaire (DBQ) which your own physicians' can complete and submit. Your doctors can expand further in a letter, but you and they should be aware of phrases the VA is attuned to. For instance, "may" to the VA means "no" and "more likely to than not" means yes. A physician simply saying your broken back may be due to your airplane crash is dismissed by the VA. A physician saying your broken back "is more likely than not" due to your airplane crash is accepted by the VA (usually) as credible support for your claim. We've noticed that physicians' stating their qualifications, or medical references in their veterans letters are generally more useful to the vets.

Beyond this, one of the veterans' claims self-help books is probably of greater value to a veteran preparing a claim than anything which can be typed here. There are many Internet resources and many, many veterans' web sites offering excellent advice. The point is: Tell the truth, assert your interests firmly, if something hurts (range of motion, etc.) say so instead of toughing it out, and don't quit.

Linda Schwartz Named as VA Asst Secretary Policy & Planning

Connecticut Gov. Malloy, Lt. Gov. Wyman Statements on

Appointment of Commissioner Linda Schwartz to
the U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs
(note: retired AF flight nurse Linda Schwartz, who previously flew with the 74th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, has left her post as Connecticut's Commissioner for Veterans Affairs to assume duties as Assistant Secretary for VA Policy and Planning. She has been a firm advocate for C-123 exposure issues.)

Governor Dannel P. Malloy and Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman applauded Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner Linda Schwartz on her nomination to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. If confirmed, Commissioner Schwartz will serve as the new Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Policy and Planning, a key administration position.

“I applaud President Obama on his nomination,” said Governor Malloy. “For more than ten years, Commissioner Schwartz has been a strong and important voice for veterans in Connecticut, and she is an excellent choice to serve veterans on a national level. Her appointment is also a great loss for
Connecticut. The Commissioner’s integrity and her work on behalf of Connecticut’s veterans and women veterans, and on the Governor’s Veterans Cabinet has a critical impact on improving how the state delivers programs and services to our veterans and military service members. She has greatly improved the lives of our military men and women.”

“I have known and worked with Commissioner Schwartz for a very long time and have witnessed her commitment and passion for countless veteran’s issues first- hand,” Lt. Governor Wyman said. “Connecticut has been fortunate to have her service and her patriotism, and I am confident that in her new role she will bring that same unmatched sense of caring to our nation’s veterans.”

Commissioner Linda Spoonster Schwartz, a retired U.S. Air Force nurse who served from 1968-1986, has led the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs since 2003. She is a member of the Governor’s Veterans Cabinet, an in initiative launched by Governor Malloy in 2012 to improve delivery of services to veterans, and played a key role in the creation of veterans.ct.gov, a one-stop tool that links veterans and their families to other state and federal agencies offering services in areas such as employment and job training, health care and education.

Commissioner Schwartz is also the President of the Board of the Connecticut State Veterans Memorial, the state’s first memorial honoring all Connecticut veterans. The Veterans Memorial is being constructed in Minuteman Park across from the William A. O’Neill State Armory in Hartford and will be a site for official observances, activities, and ceremonies that honor veterans. 

Message from VVA National President John Rowan
I am proud to announce that one of our own, Dr. Linda Spoonster Schwartz, has been nominated for the position of Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Policy and Planning at the VA. Linda has been a tireless fighter on behalf of veterans and a long- standing member of VVA. We look forward to her having a large impact on VA operations. Congratulations Linda! 

Springfield Republican: C-123 Vet Wins VA Agent Orange Claim

Westover veteran exposed to Agent Orange  wins appeal for benefits by Jeanette Deforge

After more than two years of battling for benefits to help Westover Air Reserve flight crews exposed to Agent Orange, one veteran has scored a major victory. 





Retired Lt. Col. Paul Bailey, who is suffering from incurable prostate cancer which has spread to his pelvis and ribs, recently learned a federal review panel overturned a denial of assistance and granted him Agent Orange-related disability benefits. 



Bailey, 67, and other veterans who served on C-123 Provider planes from 1972 through 1982 at Westover Air Reserve Base, in Chicopee, learned three decades later the planes they flew and worked on were previously used to spray Agent Orange in Vietnam and were contaminated with the residue. 



Many are now falling ill from prostate cancer, diabetes and heart disease, which are all conditions known to be caused by dioxin, the toxic chemical in Agent Orange. 





“I absolutely believe it was exposure to Agent Orange that caused it,” Bailey said. “There is nothing else that I can think of that would have made it spread so fast. It (prostate cancer) is very slow growing, it is not prevalent in my family and it spread really fast.” 



Bailey, who retired from the Air Force after 37 years and now lives in New Hampshire, earned medical and retirement benefits. The disability benefits are tax free and will go to his wife upon his death. 



Until this award, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs repeatedly rejected applications for benefits based on post-war service on the C-123s. While acknowledging the planes were contaminated, officials contend the toxic residue would not penetrate human skin. 



Veterans received another blow when an Air Force study released in April 2012 said crews were unlikely to have fallen ill from being exposed to dioxin. It also cited a lack of data to make a definite determination.

Officials for the Office of Veterans Affairs have repeatedly said the toxic element of Agent Orange cannot be inhaled or absorbed and would be difficult to ingest so they continue to deny requests for claims. They have not changed their position in the past few weeks because of Bailey's award.

“The VA’s Office of Public Health thoroughly reviewed all available scientific information regarding the exposure potential. We concluded that the potential of exposure for the post-Vietnam crews that flew or maintained these planes was extremely low and therefore, the risk of long-term health effects is minimal,” its website reads. 



Bailey’s ruling is a victory but it is not precedent-setting, said Archer B. Battista, of Belchertown, a semi-retired lawyer for the firm of Lyon and Fitzpatrick who served at Westover starting in 1974 and retired as a colonel from the Air Force Reserve in 2001. 



“It doesn’t seen like a slam dunk that says I flew on the planes so I’m in the pool for eligibility,” he said. “I think the decision in Paul’s case will be persuasive but not necessarily determinative.” 



Battista, a Vietnam War Veteran, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009 when he was 62. He receives benefits because of his exposure to dioxin during the war, but has joined with other Westover veterans to fight for those who are not eligible for the same assistance. 



Ideally veterans would like to see a ruling similar to the congressional Agent Orange Act of 1991 which grants medical and disability benefits to anyone who can show they stepped foot in Vietnam between 1965 and 1970 and are ill with one of 15 different diseases presumed to be caused by Agent Orange, he said. 



“I think the importance of it is finally they have gotten the VA to recognize that it has to give credence to this scientific evidence,” he said. 



For two years, Veterans Affairs officials have acted like a “bureaucratic monolith with its fingers in its ears” ignoring test data showing the planes were contaminated and statements from multiple scientific experts saying the veterans were likely to have been exposed to dioxin from the residue, he said. 



“Sooner or later the righteous side prevails. You look at the evidence and you see the agency backing farther and farther into the corner,” he said. 



To apply for benefits, military personnel submit claims to their regional veterans department. If rejected, they can appeal to the federal Board of Veterans Appeals. 



Bailey instead requested an administrative review of the denial, which was done in New Hampshire. He submitted 56 different pieces of evidence, many of them gathered by a friend, retired Air Force Major Wesley Carter. 



“After reviewing and weighting the evidence of record, the Decision Review Officer has determined that the preponderance of the evidence suggests you were exposed to herbicide onboard U.S. Air Force C-123K aircrafts. Reasonable doubt in regards to the exposure to certain herbicide, to include Agent Orange, as the result of occupational hazards onboard C-123K aircrafts is resolved in your favor,” said the decision from the Department of Veterans Affairs Manchester (NH) Regional Office. 



Several veterans have won claims from the Board of Veterans Appeals, but it can take between two and five years, which is far too long for a veteran who is gravely ill or needs medical care, said Carter, now an Oregon resident, who served as an air medical technician and flight instructor with Westover’s 74th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron for 20 years and flew in the C-123s from 1974 to 1980.

In comparison, Bailey’s appeal took a matter of months.


Carter, who has heart problems, a spinal cord injury and prostate cancer, discovered that he and his fellow crew members were exposed to Agent Orange when he started research to find out why he was so ill. 



He found a wealth of documents through the Freedom of Information Act, including tests from 1994 and 1996 showing at least 11 of the 16 planes at Westover tested positive for dioxin. One was labeled “highly-contaminated” a decade after it was retired. 



Documents included 15 years of memos, safety reports and complaints from private companies and military workers. In 2000, the government canceled sales of the toxic planes and in 2010, the remaining 18 were shredded and smelted to satisfy Environmental Protection Agency regulations. 

Citing the information, Carter said he thought it would be easy for those who fell ill with one of the conditions linked to Agent Orange to receive benefits.

But then the decisions began arriving: Denied for Carter. Denied for Bailey. Denied for multiple others.





“I didn’t think there would be illogical push back contrary to the law, contrary to the face of evidence,” Carter said. “Naively, I thought two years ago, ‘Here is some proof.’” 



In the time since Carter discovered the contamination, he created and constantly updates a blog on the subject, made YouTube videos and lobbied elected officials.





“How much proof does a veteran need to provide to the VA,” he said. “This should not be our job. I’m supposed to be focusing on my family and my health.” 





U.S. Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, the ranking Republican on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, is one of the few advocating for the group. 



In April, he wrote to Eric K. Shinseki, secretary for Veterans Affairs, asking the C-123 veterans’ claims receive a fair evaluation. 



To bolster their case, he outlined the test results and opinions of scientists and how they conflict with the position of Veterans Affairs officials. 



“These and opinions from other experts suggest, at a minimum, that there is no clear-cut answer to the question of whether the veterans who flew on these planes and maintained them were putting their own health at risk. With that in mind, I ask you to ensure that and disability claims from the veterans who operated these C-123s will not be pre-judged as lacking but, rather, will be considered based on the facts of each particular case,” Burr wrote. 



For John Harris, who served in the military for 33 years before retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 1997, the political pressure brought by Carter may be the final element needed to reverse what seems like blanket denials for C-123 veterans. 



Harris, of Mashpee, said he has been trying to contact congressmen as well but most of his calls and emails have been ignored. 

“It seems they are just denying everything and letting the guys die and the claims go away,” Harris said. 



The fight for the C-123 veterans is especially frustrating since Harris and Battista estimate there are fewer than 2,000 eligible to make claims. 



They and others have been continuing to focus on a second part of the puzzle, which is trying to contact Reservists and National Guard members who served on the planes and don’t know they were exposed to Agent Orange. 



The attempt is especially difficult when trying to reach those who served at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Ohio and in the Pittsburgh Air National Guard, which also flew some of the former Agent Orange spray planes. Air Force officials have refused to share records requested for that purpose, Harris said. 



“We had a lot of people who stayed for a year or two. I put ads in the Air Force magazine and the Reserve Officer magazine asking people to contact me and nobody, nobody contacted me,” Harris said. 



Those who know they were exposed can share the information with their doctors and take preventative measures to stay healthy and get early diagnosis if they do fall ill, Battista said.



“How do we notify people who are not yet sick?” he asked.

PTSD and Coming Home

Just an FYI re: VA Mental Health and Counseling:

Back from Operation Desert Storm and seriously injured, with multiple operations not helping things too much, I asked for some advice (counseling) at the Asheville VA Medical Center.

I reached out. I didn't get it. Total extent of their response: I was invited to attend a couple afternoon VA-sponsored picnic on the Medical Center's back lawn complex, with all other veterans being the local Navy Construction Battalion sailors who'd also been overseas. I don't know if any VA staff were present...all that happened was munching on refreshments, a cup of Coke, shaking hands of other vets and that was all. A picnic.

From what I recall, this was the limit of VA outreach in the areas of mental health...shouldn't call it outreach because one had to ask to find out about it. Not really outreach, as there seemed to be nothing except a few "just ask for help" posters had been taped up on walls and elevators. And no follow-up on that request nor subsequent requests for medication.

I was told that, having my back surgery two weeks earlier at Bethesda Naval Hospital, the soonest the VA ortho clinic could see me for care would be about six months. I was prescribed narcotics to last me until then, and I pulled out the wire staples myself

Over the next twenty years, the sole mental health interest in me by the VA has been the occasional question about depression, with heads nodding at whatever my response (sometimes quite intense) and on to the next question on whatever unrelated health form was being completed.

Suggestion: The VA might more effectively prevent veterans' post-deployment suicides by some form of actually doing something. Perhaps, offer their smorgasbord of resources rather than passively wait to be asked or be forced to intervene because of inappropriate veteran behaviors. Practitioners should read the VA's own publications, including their pivotal article identifying PTST among patients who've experienced three or more surgeries. I've had twelve since Desert Storm and more coming.

Every veteran should be approached by a social worker for an informal background assessment and an offer of resources. Every combat veteran and every severely ill or severely disabled veteran must receive social worker intervention, requested or not, as so few veterans grasp the full range of their own issues, and so few grasp the range of VA resources which might help address their needs.

Clearly, PTST should be assumed among various groups of veterans and eliminated by individual evaluation, rather than waiting for problems to come to a boil.

September 12 2013 Update: Not much changed except the posters urging vets to reach out have been updated to "It Takes a Warrior" theme. Even calls to the VA's suicide prevention hotline are problems, and the system's chat feature drops conversations repeatedly. Really, now VA: hanging up the call mid-conversation on a vet who is reaching out for help at 0300 isn't much help!

Do you think it might be better just to switch to calming elevator music??

About Face..

by Smedley D. Butler, Major General, United States Marine Corps, 1936 Two time recipient of the Congressional Medal Honor (regarding WWI soldiers but applicable to all of our wars)

“Boys with a normal viewpoint were taken from the fields and offices and factories and classrooms and put into the ranks. There they were remolded; they were made over; they were made to ‘about face’, to regard murder as the order of the day. They were put shoulder to shoulder, and through mass psychology, they were entirely changed. We used them for a couple of years, and trained them to think nothing at all of killing or of being killed. Then suddenly we discharged them and told them to make another, “about face.” This time they had to do their own readjusting without mass psychology, without officers aid and advice, without nation-wide propaganda. We didn’t need them any more. So we scattered them about without any speeches or parades. Many too many, of these fine young boys are eventually destroyed, mentally, because they could not make the final, “about face," alone.

New Zealand Army Agent Orange Study Released - increased cancers reported

Vietnam veterans who served from 1962-1971 have double the rate of chronic lymphatic leukemia compared to the general population according to a new study by the University of Otago’s Department of Preventive and Social Medicine.

Nearly 3400 New Zealand military personnel served in Vietnam and the study examined the health records of 2752 men from 1988 to 2008. This is the first cohort study of New Zealand Vietnam veterans which assesses long-term health effects of serving in a combat zone.

The study says most veterans deployed in the Nui Dat area of Phuoc Tuy province, experienced a ‘toxic environment’ because of the widespread use of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D as defoliant herbicides.

This mixture is more commonly known as Agent Orange and was contaminated with the carcinogen 2,3,7,8,TCDD, or ‘dioxin’. However the study does not have specific data on herbicide exposure of individual soldiers.

The US Institute of Medicine, in their report ‘Veterans and Agent Orange: Health Effects of Herbicides Used in Vietnam’ first classified chronic lymphatic leukemia on their ‘sufficient evidence for cancer’ list in 2002, based on dioxin toxicity and studies of farm workers exposed to herbicides. The cohorts of Australian and New Zealand soldiers are the only group of Vietnam veterans to show an actual excess of the disease.

The results also show that although 407 veterans died over the study period the overall rate of death from all causes was 15% lower than the general population suggesting lower incidence of mortality and morbidity. Mortality from cancer was not significantly lower or higher however than the general population, and there was no decrease in ‘all cancer’ incidence.

“The pattern of lower overall mortality is known as the ‘healthy soldier effect’ which is related to the fact that this cohort would have been selected for its health and fitness,” says lead author Dr David McBride.

“However the study shows a doubling of the risk of mortality from cancers of the head and neck, as well as an increase in oral cancers of the pharynx and larynx. Lung cancer contributed the greatest burden of deaths in both New Zealand and Australian veterans.”

Dr McBride and colleagues say the findings are not at odds with evidence needed for compensation from Veterans Affairs New Zealand for ill-health caused by service in the Vietnam War.

The researchers say that further work is still needed, including the selection of a non-deployed comparison group to reduce the ‘healthy soldier effect.’ As some of the cancers are also associated with smoking and alcohol consumption there is a need to collect further information on confounding factors such as ethnicity, smoking and alcohol use.

The current study will shortly appear in the international journal BMJ Open and was funded by the War Pensions Medical Research Trust Fund. A copy of the paper is available on request to Dr McBride.

The University of Otago Research Theme ‘Health of Veterans, Serving Personnel and their Families’ is holding its annual two-day colloquium on Tuesday the 3rd and Wednesday the 4th of September, hosted by the Dunedin Club.